[Terrapreta] Charcoal is hydrophobic

[Michael Bailes]

O
OK
Thanks for the clarification

Barmac a local agricultural (Green-keepers etc) company makes a product they
call "PICK UP" which is activated Charcoal.
It is used for pesticide or fertiliser spills

Barmak suggests adding water to it and making a 'slurry' before applying to
the contaminated soil.

 (they charge about $150 for three "lires")

On Humic acids.
I'm no chemist but intuitively I cannot see how adding citric acid to sandy
gravely soil will hold water.-as done in the research paper mentioned

When I think of humic acid I think of peat like things, Victorian brown
coal, maybe glomalin and SOM.
Where am I going wrong?

Certainly you would not think intuitively that Zeolite holds water as it
looks just like river sand

MA

On 03/11/2007, Sean K. Barry <sean.barry at juno.com> wrote:
>
>  Hi Brian,
>
> Charcoal IS hydrophobic.  But, the pores in charcoal are not.  Some
> charcoal floats and eventually sinks ... the water goes into the pores of
> that charcoal, increasing its density.
>

"You can fix all the world's problems in a garden. . . .
Most people don't know that"
FROM
http://www.blog.thesietch.org/wp-content/permaculture.swf
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